Is this Cazorla's motive for leaving Arsenal? - Why he can't be blamed

Arsenal star Santi Cazorla has hinted that he’ll look at his situation with the Gunners after the World Cup before making a decision on his future.

Cazorla seemed settled in North London and the links with a possible switch to Atletico Madrid will surprise plenty of fans, although there is an obvious motive behind his potential decision to leave.

It relates to the number ten role, which is currently filled by German midfielder Mesut Ozil who arrived in that big money deal from Real Madrid last summer.

Cazorla was restricted to just four appearances in his favoured number ten role in the Premier League and Champions League, with Wenger using him down the left and right on 30 different occasions.

In a respect, the Frenchman had no choice because to fit both him and Ozil into the same team, one of them was going to have to sacrifice a central position.

Therefore, should Cazorla decide to head back to Spain this summer, he can’t be blamed for doing it based on professional reasons.

He’s never attacked the club or Wenger in any way and should he move, he’s likely to stress that his reason for doing so is to play more in his best position.

His stats in a variety of midfield roles last season were positive and that’s a tribute to his professionalism that he can knuckle down and perform when he’s out of his comfort zone but it’s only natural for him to want to play in his best role.

Club

Pos

Goal Assist

Goals

Apps

Mins

Mesut Özil

Arsenal

MF

9

5

26

2,149

Santiago Cazorla

Arsenal

MF

8

4

31

2,597

Olivier Giroud

Arsenal

FW

8

16

36

3,081

Aaron Ramsey

Arsenal

MF

8

10

23

1,764

Theo Walcott

Arsenal

MF

4

5

13

858

The reason Arsenal didn’t re-sign Cesc Fabregas from Barcelona is because they already had Mesut Ozil in the number ten role, with Wenger unable to offer Fabregas regular football in his favoured position.

That hints that the midfield system Wenger is planning to use is similar to the one he deployed throughout last season, with Cazorla likely to have to accept playing out of position to get game time.

An alternative, which would have allowed Cazorla to play in a central role, would have been for Wenger to drop him slightly deeper behind Ozil.

Lewis Doe

Lewis Doe is a freelance writer and editor who seeks to bring you the biggest, smallest and most interesting stories from the football world. Lewis has previously written for some of the biggest football news and opinion sites in the world including FootballFanCast and Goal.com International. Lewis is also experienced writing in the betting industry and aims to deliver his stories with up to date factual and statistical information. He hopes to sum up stories for the site and provide an angle on the issue moving forward.Lewis is HITC Sport's La Liga correspondent.